Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Many people make resolutions for the year ahead at this time. Often these resolutions are forgotten quickly as they are all about an outcome rather than the specific things that will produce the outcome.

For example you could resolve to get more referrals, but without some actions you will not achieve this. A better resolution would be to arrange follow up meetings with someone from the groups you belong to every week and to introduce each of those people to at least one opportunity. That will get you more referrals.

These words from Aristotle help me when thinking about how to be successful;

"Understand that You can achieve Success.Define what Success represents, for You.Organise you life around its Achievement."

If you are making any resolutions then make them about the specific actions you can take to organise yourself around your success. Your successful resolutions will create new habits. To quote Aristotle again:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"

Monday, December 15, 2008

A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting when Andy Lopata was one of the other attendees. To start the session each of the attendees was invited to share something significant from their business over the last month.

Andy shared that the previous week he had delivered a paid for keynote speech to 1200 people. The feedback had been enthusiastic and was likely to lead to more similar engagements. He went on to thank me for the referral that had lead to this opportunity.

It was not the result of a chance happening, but a great illustration of how you can generate excellent referrals when you work at your networking.

Andy and I have known each other for about four years and have built a business friendship. We know, like and trust each other and have a formal process for sharing referrals to ensure the relationship is also a profitable one. Early last year I invited Andy along to one of the Referral Institute's Pipeline training sessions and following on from that we meet regularly with the specific purpose of sharing referrals.

Andy has identified exactly the companies he is looking for introductions to. In one of our meetings I recognised someone in my network who was well placed to introduce Andy to one of the companies he had identified.

Andy made the introduction easy for me by explaining exactly why the company would benefit from being introduced to him. My contact already knew of Andy from a seminar that he had delivered at one of our NRG groups. Her confidence together with the trust I already had in Andy made it easy for her to refer him for the speaking opportunity he was seeking.

Andy subsequently followed up with my contact at length and in good time as expected. He also kept me in the loop so that my existing relationship was also strengthened.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

There was some excellent advice on follow up in Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Caffeine Ezine this week. I have written extensively about the importance of follow up in this blog previously. It is in the following up and 1-2-1 meetings that you really build the mutually beneficial business relationships that drive your networking success. Many people find follow up very difficult. As Jeffrey put it;

"Is there a secret to follow-up? No.Is there a best way to follow-up? No.Why do people quit too soon? Big question.Why do you quit too soon? Bigger question.Have you ever read Think and Grow Rich? Biggest question.

Reason? Think and Grow Rich (written by Napoleon Hill 70 years ago) has an entire chapter on persistence that provides real insight as to the characteristics of what makes some stick at it until they win, while others stop either just after they start, or stop just before they are about to taste victory."

If you struggle with following up then some of what Napolean Hill had to say on How to Develop Persistence may help.

"There are four simple steps which lead to the habit of persistence, They call for no great amount of intelligence, no particular amount of education, and but little time or effort. The necessary steps are:

1. A definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment.2. A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.3. A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.4. A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose."

Friday, December 5, 2008

I saw the following from 'Alice in Wonderland' in the excellent ezine from Marieke Hensel of Branding Personality this week.

Alice:“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”The Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”Alice: “I don't much care where.”The Cat: “Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.”Alice: “…so long as I get somewhere.”The Cat: “Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”

Marieke was sharing how to avoid the top 6 mistakes you can make on Linkedin. Mistake number 1 is not setting goals. The same is true for Business Networking in general. You must be clear about your objectives to start with.

If, for example, you are networking to generate new business then invest some time to work out your strategy & set yourself some targets. Calculate how many referrals you will need to achieve your target and that will give you a rough number for the referrals you need to give.

Work out where you can regularly meet the business people you can form relationships with and give referrals to. They are the ones most likely to be able to refer you too. You can then plan for the groups you need to join and commit to the activity you need to undertake.